There’s a brand-new website dedicated to St. Gerard for all mothers and mothers-to-be, reported Register staff writer Joseph Pronechen.

The Redemptorists of the Denver Province are calling TheMothersSaint.org the official English-language website dedicated to this wonder-working saint who is one of their own. The site includes a video blessing for mothers. For more than two centuries, St. Gerard, a simple Redemptorist brother, has been popularly called the patron of mothers and motherhood and the protector of expectant mothers and their unborn children. He’s also known for helping infertile couples to conceive.

Gerard was already called a “wonder worker” even before he died in his native Italy in 1755. His prayers regularly turned extremely difficult pregnancies with few hopes for success or even survival into uncomplicated births with healthy babies.

Now, this website provides that central venue for devotion, including offering a novena booklet with prayers for mothers’ various needs and situations. St. Gerard prayer cards are available for download from the site or by calling, toll free, (866) 788-0343.

Soon to be available is the “St. Gerard handkerchief,” a sacramental that was tied to him when he was alive. According to one Redemptorist biographer, when Gerard was returning to his monastery after visiting friends, a young woman ran after him to return a handkerchief he had left behind.

Gerard told her to keep it. Years later, dying in childbirth, she had his handkerchief placed on her. Immediately, the danger passed. Since then, handkerchiefs touched to Gerard’s tomb or relics have blessed countless mothers with happy, healthy, joyful births.

Right now, the handkerchiefs are available from the National Shrine of St. Gerard in Newark, N.J., by writing them (see SaintLucy.net) or calling (973) 803-4200.